The Tragedy!

You should see the bump from the side! OUCH!

Cade has not sucked his thumb for a while but when he needs comforting or if he is really tired he will hold his hand over his mouth with his fingertips touching his nose.

Here is a picture of what happens when you run into a pole at school. The school called me so I went up there to check it out. I couldn't tell if the cut would need stitches or not so we went to Cooks Urgent Care to have it looked at. The nurse looked at him and said that she could not give me any advice but see how nicely the edges are holding together. No stitches!!! Cade seems to be our tragedy child. He is the one who tends to get injured. The teacher said that he just screamed for a minute and then he was fine. She was so surprised that he did not scream longer because she has seen his drama. To add to his tragedy, Cade has splinters in his hand from the grass burr catastrophe. The splinters are trying to work themselves out and if Cade hits them in just the right way - watch out! Mark tried to get the splinters out tonight but Cade was hysterical with fear so I guess the splinters will remain for a while! My poor baby!

Nate at 15 months and Other Updates

Nate "helping" with the dishes. I had to snap pictures before I told him "no"

Nate eating a burrito. He had to hold it himself. He would not take a bite if I was holding it.

I can't believe that my baby is already 15 months old! How did that happen. He is growing and changing every day. He is almost 30 inches tall which puts him in the 15th percentile for height. Big surprise, we have another peanut! He weighs almost 21 pounds which puts him in the 5th percentile for weight. I don't anticipate that he will ever have a weight issue. The things that I love the most about Nate right now.

1) I love how he pretends to talk on the phone by holding his hand to his ear. I love how he is fascinated by the phone.

2) I love how he came up to me and gave me a kiss all on his own. Completely melted me.

3) I love how he went up to Chase the other day and gave him a hug. I love how he went up to Cade today and gave him a hug and leaned his head into Cade's shoulder. Incredibly sweet.

4) I love how he pats my back when he is hugging me. Pure heaven!

5) I love how he puts certain phrases together and says them as one word - whatsat (what is that) and derugo (there you go) are 2 of my favorites.

6) I love watching him discover things for the first time. He is loving watching all of the Christmas activity. I can't wait to see him open presents this year.

7) I love that he is such a good eater! It makes my life so much easier.

8) I love how much he LOVES, LOVES, LOVES his bubbas. Chase especially takes super good care of his baby brother.

9) I love how he takes a chip, dips it in salsa, and then eats it. That's my boy!

There are many things about Nate that we love but those are my favorite right now. He truly is our gift from God.

Chase had his well check on Monday. Yes, I realize that he turned 9 in August. It just worked out that his well check this year was in November. He is now 51 inches tall. In July of 2004 he was not even on the charts and now he is in the 25th percentile!!!! He was right around 42 inches tall when we started all of this. Still amazes me.

Several funny Cade things. He really got into Halloween this year. He especially loved this house near ours with 8 or so zombies in the yard. He talks about that house and about zombies (and other Halloween things) all of the time. His uncle Brad, who is a very talented artist, drew him a picture with a scary tree, a scary moon, a scary boy zombie coming out of the ground, and a scary girl zombie floating around. It was very scary to Cade. So scary that he could not keep it. He had to give it to Grammy to keep. Yesterday he drew a picture of a scary tree, a scary moon, and a floating zombie. I was surprised at how good it was. Cade is loving the Christmas stuff. We are decorating in spurts and he can't stand waiting. Every once in a while he will go out to the garage and sneak another decoration into the house. He loves playing with the snowmen. He has his little Snowy. He has been having the best time having Snowy talk to the other snowmen and to Santa Claus. Needless to say, the decorations are very mobile this year. Every year I buy the boys 2 identical ornaments. I try to find ornaments that reflect their interests during the year. When they are adults, I will give them one of the ornaments and keep the other one. A couple of years ago Cade loved Dora so I got him Dora ornaments. They have his name on them so he knows that they are his. He is not happy that he has "girl" ornaments. It is truly disturbing him. He is a constant source of entertainment.

Gross Dead Animal Pictures

Chase had a great time with his Daddy. He already loves hunting. 

Boys on a Couch

The cousins playing DS games with each other - too bad Cade doesn't have one. Guess what he is asking Santa for?
Note my nephew's (Trent) silly face! Note what Dylan is doing. Ah, the moments that make a mommy proud!
Notice that Dylan is now cleaning out the other side! These pictures will be great for when he is a teenager (evil laughter).

Thanksgiving in Abilene

Nate liked the whipping cream

Grammy and Cade working on a puzzle

The boys and I left for Abilene on Tuesday. I had an appointment in Abilene that night so Charles and Ann kept the kids while I worked. The next day we spent time getting ready for Thanksgiving. I was starting to make a cake when my sweet nephew, Austin, came and took over. He got Cade to help him. He was being so sweet and supportive to Cade. I heard a lot of "Good job, Cade". Austin was a tremendous help. He baked, he chopped, he helped. It was really nice to be able to spend time with him. I don't feel like I get to see him enough.

Mark came in on Wednesday night along with Charlotte and Brad with their boys. Thursday we had the typical Thanksgiving dinner. The weather was beautiful and the boys had a great time playing with their cousins. The next day, Mark; Chase; Todd; and Austin left at 4 in the morning to go hunting. Gross dead animal pictures will be coming as soon as I can find the cord to download them. Charlotte and I did a little shopping on Friday. Not a lot of shopping because the sales were not that great. Although I was able to get some jeans super cheap! That afternoon we went out to Brad's aunt's and uncle's place. They have a lot of land for the boys to play. They had a great time, for the most part. Poor Cade was running. Brad's uncle pointed out that Cade was running through an area with a lot of grass burrs. Can you guess what happened next? Cade fell hard right in the middle of a huge, HUGE patch of grass burrs. He had at least a hundred stuck in him. He was scared and hurt and he screamed louder than I have ever heard him scream. Constant and loud (and those that know Cade know that he can scream). He was hurting so bad. Charlotte and I got all the ones off of his hands and arms. I pulled out his shirt (his favorite pumpkin shirt which now has a hole in it) so that all the ones stuck there were pulled off his skin. Charlotte grabbed his underarms and I very carefully grabbed him by his pant's legs and we carried him to the porch (screaming all the way). He was screaming so bad that it scared Nate and Nate started crying. I held Nate while Charlotte, Granddaddy, and Brad's uncle went to work on getting all the burrs off. Cade then fell asleep in my lap. My poor, traumatized baby. I wish I could have gotten a picture, but Mark had the camera.

Saturday, I drove back with Cade and Nate along with Charlotte and Brad and their boys. I dropped them off at the airport and then the boys and I went on a mission to find a new Christmas tree. We went to so many crowded stores! Cade kept wanting to go to more stores because he really wanted to put the tree up! I found a beautiful tree but it was a little too pricey so we went home. The next day, we met Jason and Kristen for lunch as they were driving through. I am sad that I don't get to see them very often. Hannah and Ben are both getting so big. After lunch, the boys and I went back to Garden Ridge because there was a new sale on a tree. It was sold out at one Garden Ridge so we went across town and bought the very last one at the other Garden Ridge. It's not a perfect tree, but it will work for a few years and then we can get a nicer one when certain family members are not so destructive :) The boys and I worked on the tree on Sunday. They are getting so excited about Christmas! I love watching their excitement and joy. Cade is especially fun this year. He loves looking at the Christmas lights. He really wants lights up on our house. We will see.

So there it is, our Thanksgiving in review.

Thanksgiving

Both Ashley and Dylan are missing their 2 front teeth! Aren't they cute!!!!

Nate is the little bite begger! And drink begger! He likes almost everything. That makes it so easy. When he wants a bite or a drink he will not take "no" for an answer!! He can be very demanding and he gets very angry when he is not given what he wants. I made the mistake of letting him try my caffe mocha. I did not think that he would like it, but he loved it!! He took drink after drink. People were laughing at the sight of Nate drinking a drink from Starbucks. I finally had to hide the cup from him. Stinkpot!

Thanksgiving Adventures

Austin and Cade cooking

Ashley holding Nate

Playing Games

I love the train ride!

Pease, mama, pease
I think that I am just as big as the big boys

Here Nate is trying to crawl back into the train

Bryce's Birthday Party

Mr. Chris helping Cade skate. Cade did great!
Look, no wall!!

Nate wanted to be out there too! He went around a few times until he was banned.
Chase with his buddy, Andrew.


After a crazy morning on Saturday, the boys and I (Mark was gone hunting) went to Bryce's ice skating birthday party. The boys had a great time skating and playing games. Nate loved the riding train and was not pleased that Mommy would not let him keep riding it. After the party, I took the boys plus 3 of their friends to see Happy Feet (I thought it was very boring). Then the boys and I went home. Fun things that happened at the movie - Nate had a blow out because he was still sick - There was no access to the changing table in the bathroom so I had to change Nate on the floor - My business checkbook was lost - Nate made numerous phone calls on my cell phone (he was playing with it to try to keep him quiet). Good times! Chase's friend, Kevin, spent the night. A tired Mark had a houseful of boys to himself the next day because I was in Houston. Busy weekend.

Cade's Soccer Party

Friday night was Cade's soccer party at CiCi's Pizza! He had a great time! His coach was truly wonderful. He was so encouraging and really managed to teach the kids a lot (with the exception of Cade who is still a bit clueless). He was really positive and would even help the kids on the other teams. He has 2 older children. His 16 year old son is amazing with the kids! He was sharing knock-knock jokes with him and talking to him. It is really nice to run across those super sweet teenagers. Cade wanted to know why he got a trophy (he KNEW he didn't earn it) so I explained that everyone who played soccer got a trophy. Friday was a busy, busy day.

Chase's Thanksgiving Party

Chase doing the craft
Chase showing his personality - you have to be cool around your friends!

The daughter of one of the room moms. This little girl followed Nate around and cleaned up all of his messes! She could not stand for him to mess things up!


I am one of 3 room moms for Chase's class. We had a little craft for the kids, some Thanksgiving jokes, and some Thanksgiving trivia. The kids had a great time!

Dylan's Thanksgiving Play

Last Friday, Dylan's class put on an Arthur Thanksgiving play. Dylan was cast as the Binky Barnes, the big boy who is thought to be a bully. It made me laugh that Dylan got this role because he is not like that at all! The play was very sweet. They served treats to the parents and siblings after the play. Next, they broke up into groups and read a Thanksgiving poem complete with hand motions. It was very cute.

The Poem:

It's Happy Thanksgiving

It's Happy Thanksgiving,
Thanksgiving! Hooray!
We're going to dinner
at Grandma's today.
I love it at Grandma's,
it's cozy and snug,
I love giving Grandma
a Thanksgiving hug.
I help make the gravy,
I pour and I stir,
it smells so delicious,
I love helping her.
We laugh and we talk,
Oh! she makes such a fuss
as she bustles about
cooking dinner for us.
When we sit at the table
and Daddy says grace,
there's a beautiful smile
on my grandmother's face.
Though the weather is windy
and chilly and gray,
our family is happy
this Thanksgiving day.

There is a mom of a sweet little girl who is in Dylan's class. This mom was talking to her friend about how she almost missed the play because she could not leave the house before the breakfast dishes were done. Her little girl had a little, bitty crumb on her mouth and her mom had to make sure that the girl took care of the crumb with her napkin. At the circus, there was a mom in front of me who had the anti-bacterial wipes ready to be used on anything that came near her child (and they were used and used and used). When her pregnant friend was climbing up she had her hands hovering all around just in case the friend fell. I am not saying that there is anything wrong with being a mom like this, but I am saying that I am not a mom like that. Maybe that is why I have 4 boys. A little bit of dirt does not bother me. Crumbs on the face - I could care less. Dirty breakfast dishes? They bother me, but I have no problem walking away from them:) The noise of the stench of boys does not bother me for the most part. Now, pee on the toilet space - THAT gets on my nerves!

The Circus

Chase doing his homework during intermission - he was thrilled about it (or not)

The motorcycle globe - they had 5 motorcycles going at once!

Cade won tickets to the circus so the boys and I went on Thursday night. We had a few extra tickets so the boys were able to participate in a random act of kindness by giving away 3 free tickets. Dylan told me that it was fun to give people things. We ate a healthy and inexpensive meal (sarcasm) at the circus before the show started.

The lights went out and the music began. Then the strobe lights came on. Sweet Nate went ohhh! His favorite part of the circus was when he got to clap. He got very tired and VERY wiggly! My poor Nate has had the stomach bug all week. Luckily he has not thrown up. His poor bottom is beet red. I have had to wash his sheets every day!!

Cade had fun at the circus. He was very scared when the high wire walker almost fell off! Really, he almost fell off! They stopped the performance and the announcer asked him if he was okay. He was trying to jump rope on the wire when he slipped and barely caught himself. Cade was so scared to watch the rest of the performance! He put his head in my shoulder and was shaking. He was so glad when that performance was over! The amount of flesh that the female performers displayed was unbelievable. Several times Cade would point at them and start laughing and then say, "Mommy, that girl is naked". A circus is a family show - why, why, why do they have to have that?

Cade was ready to go home at intermission because he was tired, but Chase and Dylan wanted to stay because the motorcycle globe and the human cannonball had not performed yet. Chase studied his spelling and vocabulary during intermission. I hope his grade does not reflect that he studied during intermission. Chase and Dylan loved, loved, loved the motorcycle globe and the human cannonball. I have to admit that the motorcycle globe is very impressive. Five motorcycles going at once in that thing! We all came home tired but happy. I love spending time with my sweet boys.